Szczesny: Drop will make Hart even better

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has drawn on his own experience of being omitted to argue that Joe Hart can become a better player after being dropped by Manchester City.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini has been recently been picking Costel Pantilimon ahead of the England international after a difficult start to the season saw Hart make costly errors in the defeats to Cardiff, Aston Villa, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

But Poland keeper Szczesny remains an admirer of Hart's and harked back to a five-game spell last season, when Lukasz Fabianski replaced him in the Arsenal goal, to insist that a break can be beneficial.

He told The Times: "I rate Hart as one of the best, if not the best, goalkeepers in the world. Over the last couple of years he was the most consistent. But age has this thing where you are not as consistent as an older goalkeeper.

"Forget the last couple of weeks, where it has been very difficult for him and he has been dropped. Everybody has got to go through that.

"When you're out of the team you have time to sort things out. It is very important to relax and maybe have a bit of time away from the pressure, getting the right mindset.

"It seems to be working for me, and I definitely hope that Joe will do the same. If he comes back stronger it is scary to think how good he is going to be."